Stagecoach West employees to mark National Customer Service Week 2014

Stagecoach West employees are gearing up to take part in this year’s National Customer Service Week.

The company will celebrate the national campaign with a range of local activities throughout the week from 6 – 10 October.

National Customer Service Week is run by the Institute of Customer Service and its aim is to raise awareness of customer service and the vital role it plays in successful business practice and the growth of the UK economy.

The most recent National Bus Satisfaction Survey by consumer watchdog Passenger Focus showed that, across its UK Bus division, Stagecoach has the highest customer satisfaction of any major UK bus operator with 90% of passengers saying they were satisfied or very satisfied with their service.

During National Customer Service Week, Stagecoach employees across the UK will take part in a series of local activities aimed at highlighting the importance of continuing to deliver good customer service day in, day out for passengers.

Among the activities taking place throughout the week, Stagecoach West are asking the public to “Tweet the Directors” and ask questions about the buses in this area. This will take place online between 10am and 2pm on Tuesday 7 October using #ScWeTTD14. There will be a “Meet the Manager” opportunity in Swindon Bus station between 12 and 2pm on Wednesday 8 October. Members of the public are encouraged to come in and ask any questions they have to James Carroll and Tim Hewer, Operations Manager and Assistant Operations Manager of Stagecoach in Swindon.

On Thursday 9 October, members of staff will be in Cheltenham Promenade handing out goodies from 8am to passengers. Rupert Cox, Managing Director, will be heading “back to the floor” working alongside the Gold bus cleaners in Cheltenham Promenade. Rachel Geliamassi, Operations Director, will be driving on some of the Gloucester bus routes and Ben Cole, Commercial Manager, will be spending a day in Cheltenham Travel Shop.

Stagecoach West Managing Director, Rupert Cox said: “Delivering good customer service is at the heart of our business – our customers are central to everything we do and it is absolutely essential that we provide a good, consistent service for them across all of our bus companies.

“Our team of employees has helped ensure we already offer high standards of customer service but we know we don’t always get things right and we will continue to work hard to improve even further.

“It’s great to see so many of our staff getting involved in Customer Service Week. Our efforts are not just for one week though – we must continue to deliver the kind of customer service our passengers rightly expect on a daily basis and we are fortunate to have a team of employees who work hard to do just that.”

In its most recent national bus satisfaction survey Passenger Focus found that Stagecoach had improved on its leading score of 86% the year before, with 90% of passengers this year saying they were satisfied or very satisfied with their service*.

The overall customer ratings for Stagecoach were higher than three other national UK bus operators: Arriva (86%), First (86%) and National Express (86%).

Stagecoach has also been independently recognised as offering the best value bus fares in Britain three consecutive times. Analysis published by transport specialists TAS** found that Britain’s biggest bus operator provides regular passengers with the lowest cost weekly bus travel. The research showed that Stagecoach weekly travel is on average 12% lower than the next cheapest operator.

Stagecoach invests millions of pounds a year in new vehicles to deliver a higher standard of service for customers. Earlier this year, the Group announced it had placed orders for £100million worth of new buses and coaches for its UK operations.

In addition, Stagecoach is part-way through the implementation of an £8million digital strategy which will see the UK Bus division’s website re-developed and the installation of automatic vehicle location technology on all vehicles.